Biographies, biographers, and interesting people

Jody Jensen Shaffer has written 27 books for children including both fiction and nonfiction. Her poetry and short fiction has appeared in magazines such as Highlights for Children, Babybug, Turtle, Humpty Dumpty, and Clubhouse Jr. Jody has written several biographies including books about celebrities such as Liam Hemsworth from The Hunger Games, Taylor Swift, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Recently, Jody celebrated the release of two historical biographies, What’s Your Story, Frederick Douglass?and What’s Your Story, Sequoyah? Both books are part of the Cub Reporter Meets Famous Americans series from Lerner Publishing. The Cub Reporter is a cartoon bear character who interviews the subject of each book. Although the reporter is fictional, the answers given by the subject are all fact.

How was the research for your Frederick Douglass and Sequoyah books different than the research you do for your celebrity biographies?

Good question! Research for each subject is different. For the celebrities I wrote about, my research included reviewing newspaper interviews from their hometowns from when they were young and more current interviews with popular magazines and reliable internet sites, even YouTube. For Douglass and Sequoyah, my research involved finding reliable, scholarly work written about these men. Douglass had another benefit: he wrote his own biography (several, in fact), so I could access copies of them on the internet and cross-reference details against what others wrote about him. For Sequoyah, I used government sites and books.

How did you get started as a writer?

Even as a child, I liked to write. Then I earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in English. I wrote for adults at that time. I began writing for children when my kids were little. I was enamored with all the clever, lovely, touching, gorgeous picture books, early readers, and chapter books we’d read together. Then when my youngest started kindergarten, I started getting serious about writing for children.

What is a typical writing day like for you?

I get the kids to school, respond to emails, then dig into whatever writing project I’m working on. It might be researching my next biography subject or putting the finishing details on an outline. I work until the kids come home, and depending on our evening activities, I might work during the evening, too.

What do you enjoy about writing biographies?

I love learning about people, which also means learning about the places they come from and the people who surround them. I especially like finding out the tiniest details, things that might not make it into a book because of restrictions of some kind.

What is the best writing advice you’ve received?

Use the fewest, most appropriate words you can, without losing the meaning of your piece. Also, always consider your audience.

You have a fun nonfiction book and a couple of picture books scheduled for publication. Can you tell us about them? Do you plan to write more biographies?

Yes, I do! The “fun nonfiction book” is The Way the Cookie Crumbled by Simon Spotlight. It’s all about the history of cookies, and it’s appropriate for elementary-aged students. It’s filled with tons of delicious information about cookies. It’s scheduled for release on July 5, 2016.

Then in 2017, Prudence, the Part-Time Cow will come out with Henry Holt. It’s about a cow who finds her own way to fit in with the herd.

Following that, Nancy Paulsen/Penguin will release A Chip Off the Old Block in 2018. It’s about a rock who takes a journey to discover how he can make a difference in the world. It’s a blend of fiction and nonfiction, so there’s plenty of back matter for those who want to learn more about rocks.